Birthday Celebrations — October 24

Born on this day. These are the birthdays we celebrate on October 24 — the people whose lives added to the story of Black history.

Sonny Terry

Full name: Saunders Terrell

Born October 24, 1911 — died March 11, 1986

Blues harmonica player and singer.

Terry developed a vivid harmonica style that combined musical lines with train sounds, animal calls, and vocal effects. His long partnership with guitarist Brownie McGhee brought Piedmont blues to concert halls, recordings, and international folk audiences. A 1982 National Heritage Fellow, he helped sustain a regional tradition while expanding its reach far beyond the communities where he first performed.

Willie Mabon

Full name: Willie James Mabon

Born October 24, 1925 — died April 19, 1985

Blues and rhythm-and-blues singer, pianist, and songwriter.

Mabon brought a Memphis musical background to Chicago, where his recordings I Don’t Know and I’m Mad became major rhythm-and-blues hits. His conversational singing and piano work helped define an early-1950s urban blues sound. After moving to Paris in 1972, he continued recording and touring, illustrating the substantial European audience for African American blues performers.

Tommy Bankhead

Born October 24, 1931 — died December 16, 2000

Blues guitarist, singer, and bandleader.

Bankhead carried Mississippi blues experience into a long career in St. Louis. He performed with major blues musicians and led groups including the Blues Eldorados, remaining an important part of the city’s club circuit for decades. His career highlights the working musicians who sustained local blues communities even when their recordings received less national attention.

Jimmy Dawkins

Full name: James Henry Dawkins

Born October 24, 1936 — died April 10, 2013

Chicago blues guitarist and singer.

Dawkins became a distinctive exponent of Chicago’s West Side blues sound. His debut album Fast Fingers drew international attention, but his playing also included measured, expressive blues that did not fit the speed implied by that nickname. He supported other performers through session work and his Leric label, contributing to both the music and its local recording infrastructure.

Odean Pope

Born October 24, 1938

Jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.

Pope grew within Philadelphia’s rich jazz community and became a longtime collaborator of drummer Max Roach. His Saxophone Choir explored the possibilities of a large ensemble of reed instruments, while smaller groups displayed his individual improvisational voice. His career combines experimental composition with deep roots in church music, rhythm and blues, and the mentoring networks of urban jazz.

Bettye Swann

Full name: Betty Jean Champion

Born October 24, 1944

Soul singer and songwriter.

Swann achieved her best-known success with Make Me Yours, a 1967 rhythm-and-blues chart leader. Her recordings joined Southern soul feeling with polished arrangements and included material that crossed the boundaries between soul and country. Although her recording career ended relatively early, later reissues helped new listeners discover the emotional clarity of her singing.

Kweisi Mfume

Full name: Frizzell Gray

Born October 24, 1948

Congressional representative and civil-rights leader.

Mfume moved from Baltimore local politics to the US House of Representatives and later led the NAACP from 1996 to 2004. He returned to Congress in 2020 after Elijah Cummings’s death. His career connects electoral representation, national civil-rights advocacy, and public discussion of health disparities, education, and opportunity in Black communities.

Monica

Full name: Monica Denise Arnold

Born October 24, 1980

R&B singer and actress.

Monica emerged as a teenage recording artist with Miss Thang and developed a durable career in contemporary R&B. Her duet with Brandy, The Boy Is Mine, became a defining late-1990s recording. Her singing draws on gospel experience and Southern musical traditions, while songs such as So Gone demonstrate her continued presence beyond her initial teenage success.

Drake

Full name: Aubrey Drake Graham

Born October 24, 1986

Canadian rapper, singer, and actor.

Drake first reached television audiences through Degrassi: The Next Generation before establishing an international recording career. His combination of rapping and melodic singing helped shape mainstream hip-hop and R&B during the 2010s. Born in Toronto to a Black American father and a Jewish Canadian mother, he also represents the cross-border development of Black popular music.

Jalen Ramsey

Born October 24, 1994

Professional football defensive back.

Ramsey entered the NFL from Florida State and established himself through coverage ability, physical play, and repeated All-Pro and Pro Bowl recognition. He helped the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl LVI.

Ashton Sanders

Full name: Ashton Durrand Sanders

Born October 24, 1995

Film and television actor.

Sanders portrayed the teenage Chiron in Moonlight, contributing one part of the film’s three-stage portrait of a young Black man. That performance placed him before an international audience and established him as a notable young screen actor.

Jaylen Brown

Full name: Jaylen Marselles Brown

Born October 24, 1996

Professional basketball player.

Brown entered the NBA as Boston’s third overall selection in the 2016 draft after playing at the University of California, Berkeley. His development as a two-way wing helped make him a central contributor to the Celtics’ later playoff teams.